Kabul, Aug 24 - A rival candidate has alleged irregularities in the Aug 20 Afghan presidential elections and warned they could affect the outcome, the Online news agency reported.

Abdullah Abdullah said Sunday: 'The violations are glaring and run into hundreds. The violations I am talking about are extraordinary and will change the result. The people should be informed of these anomalies.'

The former foreign minister claimed receiving reports from areas where there were either no polling or the turnout was extremely low. But the number of votes counted was several times higher in favour of incumbent President Hamid Karzai, he charged.

However Wahid Omar, spokesman for the Karzai campaign, spurned the allegations as groundless. 'If Abdullah's team has proofs of fraud, we don't know about them.'

Omar argued the Abdullah's team believed residents of restive provinces would not go to the polls but they turned out in large numbers and their ballots could not be ignored.

The former minister demanded ballot boxes received from polling centres where irregularities took place should be quarantined.